Shepherds and Sheepdogs

 

If I sound intolerant it is because I grieve for churches that are being endangered by arrogant and egotistical pastors. And it is happening across the nation. We pastors, elders and church leaders will be held accountable for the failures we have thrust upon the sheep. To me, the scariest verse in the Bible is when Jesus passes sentence on preachers at the Judgment who have “cast out demons in His name and in His name done many wonderful works”. Even so, to them he says: “Depart from Me you workers of iniquity, I never knew you!” (Matthew 7:23). Was Jesus talking about pastors?! Yes. He had to be. These were “wolves in sheepdog clothing”.

At the same time I write this, I understand the pastor’s fear of trusting others. During my ministry there were times when I suffered severely at the hands of unloving church boards. Under no circumstance do I recommend that kind of behavior. Not only so, God will judge it. But one extreme does not justify another. We create greater problems when we circumvent the New Testament pattern. And what is that pattern?

A plurality of elders in God-fearing submission to each other while each concurrently supports the Pastor.

There are times when a pastor is safe only when the elders protect him from criticism and unjust accusation. Let me illustrate: In 60 years of ministry I never signed a church check. Nor did I want to. Even Jesus had a treasurer. So did I. Though I now function as a private ministry I still have a well-qualified treasurer who carefully oversees the spending. Our records are judiciously kept. My board members are my spiritual family—and I am grateful to God for them. Not only so, but I meet with them regularly to receive their advice and recommendation. I would not dare function any other way. Significantly, these same Calebs have been with me since 1994 when my traveling began. We have never had a controversy. God intends that all sheepdog teams function this way. It can be done. When my pastoral ministry ended in 1994 and my evangelical work began, God quickly brought David Rhea into my life. David is a true Caleb. For years he accompanied me on trips from London to Alaska, Canada to South America, and points across the U.S. Today I am traveling less, David is in Tennessee, but Rick Cross and Larry Castelli are my local sheepdogs. Rick is a Kingdom-Caleb, committed to God and to the assistance of my ministry.

Larry is a Sergeant in the West Palm Beach Florida Police Department. Until recently he was the department’s SWAT Director, Narcotics Department head, and undercover agent. We met at my “Sons In Ministry” event in May 2008, when another police department worker brought him to the meeting. At that time Larry had never been in a gathering where the Holy Spirit moved in “power and demonstration” (1 Corinthians 2:1-5). When I called him forward for prayer the power of God suddenly dropped him helplessly to the floor. That astonished him. This former Marine and body builder discovered his martial arts training was no match for the authority of Heaven. That night Larry was filled with the Holy Spirit and his life radically changed. Neither of us knew it at the time but God also assigned him to be my sheepdog and friend. Be aware of this. When such people fall to the floor under the power of God unable to move they are learning the Holy Spirit’s most fundamental message: Submit—Surrender—Don’t fight back. This kind of falling happened to Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus Road, Acts 9:4, and still occurs today.

Tags: featured, sheepdogs, shepherds

Category: Ministry, Spring 2010